God Emperor
chapter-804

Wuchang Xinkong naturally didn’t want to charge into the Ghost Den. After all, the rules of survival in the netherworld were ten times or a hundred times those in Kunlun’s Field. The dead souls had to devour each other to keep getting stronger.

Once she charged into the Ghost Den, she could very possibly die. However, the netherworld was too vast. Even a Wuchang wasn’t clear about the dangers in every place. Thus, her fear was understandable.

It took half a month after that. After experiencing many bloody battles and passing through six Ghost King territories, they finally arrived to the border of Ghost King Shenchu’s territory.

After this half month, Zhang Ruochen, Captain Rat, Mu Lingxi, and Han Xue were all exhausted. They’d suffered many attacks. Once, they’d almost all died in a canyon. Thankfully, Zhang Ruochen cast the Universal Spiritual Map at the most critical moment and put everyone in the scroll world.

On the other hand, Blackie wasn’t hurt at all. It was still very energetic.

Along the way, Wuchang Xinkong was secretly surprised by the group’s combat ability. They didn’t have high cultivations, but each was more amazing than the last.

If the Monks of the living world were all as powerful as them, Wuchang Xinkong doubted the Ghost King’s who’d gone could really take over the living world.

“With your cultivation, it truly shocked me that you can reach the territory of Ghost King Shenchu,” Wuchang Xinkong said. “However, I still have to warn you. You can still retreat now. If you continue, it’ll only get more dangerous.”

Even Wuchang Xinkong was very unwilling to enter Ghost King Shenchu’s territory.

But Zhang Ruochen was insistent. He showed no sign of retreating. “Where exactly did the god die?” he asked. “Take us there immediately.”

“It’s my first time here too,” Wuchang Xinkong said. “I only heard before that a god’s body fell from the sky and landed in a vast field.”

“So you don’t know the specific location either?”

“No.”

Zhang Ruochen furrowed his brow. Instead of continuing to ask Wuchang Xinkong, he glanced at Han Xue. “How are things?” he asked.

“The Void Sword’s responses have become multiple times stronger. Long, long ago, the Thousand-bone Empress must have come here. But I don’t know if she’s already left.”

“Next, we’ll follow the Void Sword’s senses,” Zhang Ruochen. “It won’t be wrong.”

After a short rest, everyone got back on the road. They started for Ghost King Shenchu’s territory.

There was no Spiritual Qi in the netherworld. There were only Yin Qi and Ghostly Qi. Thus, Monks would keep using up their Holy Qi. If they wanted to recover their cultivation, they had to absorb Holy Qi from the Holy Crystal.

After around 2000 miles, Zhang Ruochen extended his Spiritual Power. He discovered that there were remnants of Spiritual Qi left in the air.

“Someone got here before us.”

Zhang Ruochen stopped and flew onto a 100-foot-tall tombstone. Opening his Sky Eye, he started searching.

A moment later, he turned it off and looked down at the others. “Han Xue, come with me,” he said. “The others stay and wait here. If you run into danger, use the saint decree immediately to escape.”

Zhang Ruochen and Han Xue used techniques to fly in the southeast direction. They disappeared amongst the huge tombstones. After a while, they’d passed 500 miles and arrived beside a Blood River.

This Blood River was vast. Standing at the riverbank, they couldn’t see the other side.

A moon hung in the sky above the river. The scarlet red light shone down like a menacing demonic eye.

At the moment, there were three monks wearing cassocks beside the Blood River. Yes, they were real living humans instead of ghosts.

Other than the three monks, there were also hundreds of corpses on the ground. Powerful Qi radiated from all of them. Though the clothing was all rotten, the bodies were undamaged.

“Amitabha!”

One of the monks seemed to be around 50 years old. He was slightly chubby and looked benevolent. A big string of black Buddhist beads hung from his neck.

He walked to a corpse and pointed a finger, golden light emerging from his fingertip. He drew a golden Sanskrit word between the body’s eyebrows.

Then an eerie scene unfolded.

The corpse crawled up from the ground and knelt devoutly before the monk. Crawling forward on all fours, it pressed its head on the ground like a believer kowtowing before a god.

The three monks drew the Sanskrit word on all the corpses. After drawing, the corpses would “come back to life.”

When Han Xue saw this from a distance, she was very shocked. Opening her starry eyes wide, she mumbled, “Master, how can this be?”

Zhang Ruochen’s eyes narrowed. After thinking, he said, “They must be evil monks from the Death Zen Sect. They cultivate the Death Zen Buddhist Way. They can turn dead souls into their believers, refining them into battle corpses, Buddha ghosts—essentially their puppets for battle. Five hundred years ago, they used this exact evil Buddhist Way to kill many innocent people. This was why they were banished.”

Then Zhang Ruochen looked back at the corpses and inhaled sharply. “They must have come to the netherworld to find some powerful bodies and make even stronger battle corpses. Look, of the hundreds of bodies here, at least half are Half-Saints.

“In Kunlun’s Field, they would get attacked by the descendants of the Half-Saints if they tried to steal a corpse. But in the netherworld, there are graves everywhere. It’s easy to dig up a Half-Saint’s corpse. They can even find a Saint’s corpse.”

Han Xue’s eyes shone brightly. “Master,” she whispered. “Do you think the Death Zen Sect’s people opened the Tomb Forest’s seal to let out the dead souls? This way, they can openly enter the netherworld, dig up Half-Saint corpses and create a large amount of battle corpses.

“With the number of corpses in the netherworld, it’s not hard for the Death Zen Sect to create a battle corpse army composed solely of Half-Saint corpses. This way, they can sweep through Kunlun’s Field and rule the world.”

Zhang Ruochen stared hard at Han Xue. He felt more and more that this little girl was extremely intelligent. It was unusual for someone her age to think that deeply.

However, Zhang Ruochen shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”

“Why?” Han Xue asked.

“No matter how many powerful corpses the evil monks of the Death Zen Sect find in the netherworld, they still can’t take them across Corpse River and return to Kunlun’s Field. So what’s the use?”

Han Xue nodded and bit her lips lightly. “You thought of the whole picture. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“But you do have a point,” Zhang Ruochen said, analyzing the situation. “The evil monks of the Death Zen Sect arrived at Ghost King Shenchu’s territory before us. This means that they were well-prepared and possibly entered the netherworld as a large force. There must be more than just the three before us now.”

Gurgle!

Bubbles of various sizes rose up from the Blood River. The entire river was boiling and bubbling.

Then there was the sound of something breaking through water. After that, extremely brilliant Buddhist light shot out of the river. It transformed into a 300-foot-wide golden ball of light and hovered in the air.

When the Buddhist light faded, a young monk in his twenties emerged from the ball of light.

The young monk was very handsome. His skin was pure like jade, his eyebrows were thick and dark, his eyes were deep, and his nose was tall and straight. Clad in a golden cassock, he slowly descended onto the ground.

“Greetings Buddha Xinshu.”

The three monks immediately put their hands together. Bowing reverently, they kowtowed to the young monk in greeting.

Zhang Ruochen sensed danger from the young monk known as Buddha Xinshu. Thus, he immediately activated the Shooting Star Invisibility Cloak’s energy and wrapped it around him and Han Xue.

At the same time, he repressed their auras to the minimum.

Buddha Xinshu held a three-meter Sun-moon Crystal Coffin in his right hand and placed it on the ground slowly. “There was a Ghost King’s battle formation at the bottom of the Blood River. It took me six hours to break through it and take out this coffin.”

He was an evil monk of the Death Zen Sect, but he seemed so holy. His voice was also so lovely to listen to. It sounded ethereal. Ringing in one’s ears, it was like listening to a holy Buddha lecturing. One couldn’t help but want to bow down to him.

“Even with your cultivation, it still took six hours to break through the Ghost King’s battle formation. The owner of this coffin must be extraordinary.”

One of the second level Half-Saints walked to the side of the Sun-moon Crystal Coffin. Looking through the translucent sides, one could make out a woman lying inside. Instead of a corpse, it looked like she was just sleeping.

Zhang Ruochen also looked over at the coffin. He was surprised what kind of treasure would be sealed by a Ghost King’s battle formation.

“Oh?”

Standing on the riverbank, Buddha Xinshu sensed someone watching. Thus, he immediately looked towards where Zhang Ruochen and Han Xue were hiding.

That moment, Zhang Ruochen and Han Xue felt that the air had frozen. They couldn’t move at all as if they’d been sealed in ice.

His cultivation is too scary. I got discovered just by glancing at the coffin.

Zhang Ruochen worked to activate the Emperor Ming Nine-sky Scripture. He guided his Holy Qi into his meridians to break free from the other’s suppression.

On the riverbank, confusion appeared in Buddha Xinshu’s eyes. He walked out toward Zhang Ruochen and Hanxue. At that moment, piercing whistles sounded behind them.

A pitch black cloud rushed out from the distance, roaring, “How dare you steal the Ghost King’s body!”

Kaboom!

Wuchang Haochuan came flying in on his soul beast. Extremely strong power burst from his body. Sweeping up dozens of huge tombstones from the ground, he hurled them at the four evil monks.

(Author’s note: Buddha Xinshu was mentioned before, but probably only the careful readers noticed.)